Cranberry Avocado Salsa

It’s Salsa Time!

A few days after the hullabaloo of Thanksgiving passed, I discovered a half of a bag of cranberries in the fridge, starting to drift to the back wall the way forgotten ingredients do. I grabbed the bag … and it sat on the counter all morning while I stalked around it, running through various options in my mind. Leftover cranberries, you are tasking me so!

Eventually, it sank in that the bag was sitting right next to two avocados that had reached a perfectly ripened status that very day.

Ding!

(That’s the sound of inspiration, just in case it sounded like something else in your own head.)

Salsa!

If there’s anything I’m really, really missing from summer, it’s salsas and guacamoles and pico de gallos. So many of my tasty summer lunches included one of them (or were one of them in its entirety), that there’s a hole in my lunch repertoire so large that no autumn recipe has been able to completely fill it (not even soup {gasp!}).

I practically cried on the spot, thinking about cranberry avocado salsa. Could tart cranberries stand in for acidic tomatoes? Would avocados really work and play well with this winter fruit?

A quick googling on the interwebs revealed that — sure enough — there’s still nothing new under the sun: cranberry avocado salsa is, indeed, a thing, and not only is it a thing, but Martha’s already been all up in its b’ness.

I eyeballed her delicious-sounding recipe, mentally rebalanced the ingredients to suit my preferences, and added orange juice and zest because … cranberries and orange … yes!

I love everything about this winter salsa: the colors, the textures (the cranberries provide an ever-so-slight crunch), and, of course, the flavors. Cranberry avocado salsa is absolutely gorgeous on the table and will sit harmoniously with anything on the appetizer tray.

Holiday entertaining aside, I encourage all you summer-missin’-folk to make this salsa, ASAP. It doesn’t quite bring back those fresh-off-the-vine, backyard cherry tomatoes, but, color me happy because salsa is back on the menu (and seasonal salsa, at that)! (Next time, I’m adding juicy pomegranate ariels – I predict deliciousness.)

Karen xo

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Cranberry Avocado Salsa

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time3 minutes mins

Total Time13 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cranberry avocado salsa

Author: Karen Gibson

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• zest from one orange
• juice from 1/2 of a lime
• 2 tablespoons honey or agave
• 1 minced jalapeno seeds and ribs removed
• 2 tablespoons red onion finely chopped
• 2 ripe avocados peeled and sliced into 1/4"-inch dice
• 3/4 cup cranberries
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Instructions

• Optional: blanch the cranberries for 30 seconds in boiling water, then plunge them into ice cold water. This softens the cranberries slightly and takes off their raw edge.
• Chop the cranberries roughly (do not put through a food processor - they'll get mushy), and pat them dry to remove their pink liquids.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the lime and orange juices, orange zest, honey, jalapenos and red onion.
• Gently fold in the avocados, cranberries, and cilantro. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Serve with pita or tortilla chips.

Nutritional information, if shown, is provided as a courtesy only, and is not to be taken as medical information or advice. The nutritional values of your preparation of this recipe are impacted by several factors, including, but not limited to, the ingredient brands you use, any substitutions or measurement changes you make, and measuring accuracy.